Mommy, I love you..

I watched this vlog which made me laugh and cry at the same time. I guess, our ego is too big that we forget to say thank you or I love you to the person who cares for us the most. Our mom. 
As a human being, she is obviously not perfect. But then, I guess there be will no one else in this world that will love you unconditionally but your mother. 


She will call me when I am are sick and ask how I am doing. She will try to cook for me even when she is not feeling well. She will definitely wake up in the middle of the night to pray when I am nearing my exam. She will kept quiet even if I say hurtful things to her. She will never raise her voice and more importantly, she will not judge me.

To my most wonderful Mommy..

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU 

and 

I LOVE YOU

Islam is cool..

A hearty meal..

I ganti puasa yesterday and baked this for Iftar. It was really delicious, I'm telling ya. Well, you can confirm with my anak-anak buah, Umar, Uzair and Sarah as they gobbled up everything in split second (to the extend that their Umi takde can nak makan!).

This is my version of making a simple Creamy Baked Macaroni.

1) Cook 1 packet of pasta of your choice until al dante

2) In a big pot, saute 1 whole bombay onion and after that add 500gm of minced meat. Lower the heat and cover the pot

3) After 30 minutes or once the meat is tender, add in 1 whole of diced fresh tomato and 1 can of button mushroom. Cook for another 10 minutes

4) Add in 1 can of instant spaghetti sauce

5) Add oregano and fresh thyme to the gravy. Seasoned with salt and pepper

6) For the cream sauce (whatever you call it), put 4 table spoons of butter in a pan and wait until it melt. 

7) Then add 4 table spoon of flour and stir with a balloon whisk to make roux. 

8) Subsequently, put in 4 cups of fresh milk.

9) Once it is thicken, add in 4 slices of cheddar cheese and season with salt

10) Put the macaroni into an oven proof casserole dish. Cover the macaroni with the creamy sauce and sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melt. 


p/s I prefer an aluminium foil dish as my oven is small and cannot handle a heavy container. 

Enjoy!

I can stand now!!!

This place sucks!

[50% Off] 3-Course Dining with KL Skyline View for 2 people at Look Out Point Western Food for RM45 instead of RM89.20 (only RM22.50 per person)


Looking at the deal above, the price is about the same as eating at Chilli's for 2 persons but for 50% less! This place was even featured in The Star. Quoted from Kwong Fei Look for this restaurant if you are looking for cheaper and tastier food. – Jan 20, 2010 As person who cannot see things go on sale, I quickly grabbed this groupon and has since been looking forward to go to this place. 


Me and Mr hubby finally could find time to go out for a dinner at Look Out Point Shah Alam last week. I thought it was located somewhere around i-city, my expectation would be that it is probably be near Jakel Seksyen 7. Unfortunately, our GPS system broke down, so after few u-turns and pusing2, we eventually located this eating place; it is in fact located inside the I-city itself, and the parking cost 10 bloody bucks!! We were too cheapskate to pay for the expensive parking fee (that's why we bought groupon!!) and decided to park about 500 metres away, near durian stalls.

Besides Look Out Point, there are actually few other restaurants in i-city including KFC, a nasi arab shop and a must have kedai mamak to name a few. The first turn off point when we stepped into the restaurant was that it was gloomy with lots of empty tables and chairs. My hubby was like, "Betul ke tempat ni? You were singing praises for this place  tapi macam takde orang je,".. I was a bit defensive saying that I'm sure groupsmore won't just simply advertise suka2 hati and will probably selectively choose restaurants with good reputation. 


We handed in our groupon, my hubby chose sirloin steak and I picked lamb chop with cheese sausage. The deal also included wild mushroom soup and fresh salad. 


First and foremost, the food was so NOT tasty!!! The steak was actually a piece of very thin meat, not at all juicy or tender. I think mine was probably Ayamas cheese sausage that you can just buy from any hypermarket. The fries tasted weird. I think they just heat up the fries and the salad was just plain cucumber + carrots dip in thousand island dressing. One of the waiters was without shame, just melepak at one of the empty tables around us smoking and puffing away! We were terribly disappointed and vow never to come to this place again. 

Sirloin steak supposedly priced RM51.60! 
Kemonla, we were definitely cheated!

Cheese Sausage Lamb Chop actual worth RM45.60!
Let me tell ya, it is so NOT worth it!

Garden salad

Disheartened, we decided to stop by at a durian stall in front of I-city for a taste of my favourite fruit. Very cheap as they sold the king of fruits for a mere RM10 for 3 biji! At least we went home somehow feeling contented!

Much much more fulfilling

Note to self: be more cautious in purchasing any groupons in the future.. 

Hearyee.. hearyee..

I am planning to organise a group cooking class at Bayan Indah in October. I am still torned between the two themes below.


If you need any further information on the place or how the classes are run, please visit Bayan Indah's main website. 


Anyone interested to join me for this fascinating cooking adventure? You can either drop me an emaiI, text me or simply leave me a note on my FB wall.  I will proly need your feedback before the end of fasting month. TQ!!!!

Theme #1: Designed to Impress

Time 09:30AM to 02:00PM, RM 300 per person

Originally offered as a Christmas menu, this class has now by request, been reincarnated as a special occasion dinner. Be forewarned, however, that this is not a class for the faint-hearted, as we do cover a lot of ground. You’ll bone and stuff a leg of lamb, make a sponge cake and meringue for the Baked Alaska and several side dishes. However, when you reproduce this menu at home, you’ll find that many of the dishes can, in fact, be made several hours or days ahead, leaving you cool and collected when your guests troop in …

• Salmon canapés with pear & watercress salad
• Boned roast lamb with herb crust & apricot stuffing
• Homemade orange mint sauce
• Potato gratin (sliced potatoes baked with cream)
• Paper-wrapped baked vegetables with fresh herbs
• Baked Alaska (meringue covered ice cream cake)

Please note that this class is meant for the more accomplished home cooks with some experience in preparing sizable family meals. Students working in pairs make the whole menu. Everyone gets to take a baked Alaska home.

An example class can be seen onhttps://picasaweb.google.com/114969232263335544031/DesignedToImpress2April2011#

...OR...

Theme #2: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme ….

Time 09:30AM to 01:30PM, RM 250 per person

Discover the fantastic flavours of fresh tarragon, basil, dill, thyme and rosemary … and I guarantee that you’ll never settle for dried herbs ever again.

• Roast leg of lamb with rosemary & garlic
• Tarragon chicken with cream sauce
• Pan-fried fish fillets with dill or chive butter
• Tomato and basil pasta sauce
• Pesto (for pasta)
• Coleslaw with dill

Students working in pairs make two main course recipes and one side dish or pasta. Please indicate choice at time of booking.

To see a Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme class in action, please click on https://picasaweb.google.com/bayanindah/ParsleySageRosemaryAndThyme23Oct?feat=directlink

It's dessert time!

I spent the day today with 3 old friends and 14 new acquantainces at Bayan Indah for my first ever baking class. This culinary retreat  was fabulous, cosy and not a typical Malay home with its open space concept. We were welcomed by a jovial Rohani Jelani cum cikgu of the day and was served with a mug of coffee and orange sponge cake at the reception room. 

Garden of herbs.. Nice right..

Very cozy place.. I love the open concept!

The first thing that Rohani did was to go through a few important steps in the recipe, briefed us on the dos and the donts and after that demonstrated to us on how to separate egg white and yolk, how to beat the egg, why brown sugar and not regular white granulated one and within a few minutes, the cake batter was ready! Rohani made it looked soooo easy! 

The guru showing us the how-to-do..

There were basically a selection of 4 cakes but each pair can only choose 2 to bake and bring home. The ingredients were pre-measured and was put nicely at everyone's station along with our very cute apron. 

My partner in crime

Me and my partner, Hanani baked strawberry layer cake and toffee banana cake. The baking part was pretty easy but the preparing the garnishing and decorating an otherwise plain sponge cake with lemon curd, toffee and etc was leceh and time consuming. I would definitely do it at home if I have an extra helping hand.

Before..

Tadaaa.. 
might appear a bit sloppy but it sure taste DELISH!

Rohani and few of her assistance were there all the time and entertained each and every questions and doubts we had and demonstrated to us whenever we appeared clueless. We started baking at 10am and finished everything at around 2pm! It was quite tiring actually especially with the hot whether and having to stand most of the time.

Bushra, my ex-uni/room mate for 7 years!

Anyways, we still had fun learning new stuff while meeting up with old buddies amidst our busy schedule. Bushra and Azida, future radiologists working in UMMC while Tasha and Asra just came back from Australia for their post graduate study. We had a nice chat over lunch while enjoying the view of Bayan Indah before heading home at 3pm. 

Camwhoring session is a must!

Asra and Tasha preparing mango cheese cake..

I told Rohani to expect another email from us after Raya. We will definitely return for more of her cooking class!

So long Bayan Indah
We sure will return to this sanctuary soon

Have a nice weekend ladies (err.. and gents)

Love em to bits!

I am sure when it comes to wedding decoration, Nas Great Ideas, Flora etc, Kerja Kahwin and Wedding by Sher are among the big names in the industry.


But I am just in love with Chenta Weddings by Indipop. Their wedding concept is so original, one of a kind and modern. I heart how they play with colours and showcase something new each time. A breath of fresh air amongst the abundance of butik pengantin / planner I tell ya. 


Why la I never heard of them 3 years ago when I was planning for my reception? Tensi! I wish I can get married all over again and have my wedding decorated by them. 


But then again, when money is not an object, I guess everyone (including me.. dah kahwin beranak satu, sudah, jangan berangan!) would definitely hire them. Definitely will consider booking them for my still single sister and youngest brother's wedding later. 


CW will be a force to be reckoned with and I am pretty sure that in a year or two, they will be fully booked to the brink that ppl with budget seciput like us just cannot afford them anymore :(
Anyways, just check out the pics below. You'll be amazed.

Drool..

Very nice colour palette

Just lovely

So sweeeeetttt..

Time flies..

 Hana turns 10 months old today!! Oh gosh, in 2 months time, she'll reach 1 year old. Eii can't wait to plan for her first birthday.. thinking of baking a special cake for her, setting up a cute candy buffet with the decorations and all.. Heheheh.. I'm into DIY nowadays kan kan :)

Source from here

Anyway, my little missy ni dah pandai merajuk and throwing tantrum. Lambat bagi susu skit or tinggal kan sekejap sorang2 then she'll start crying and screaming her hearts out macam budak kena abuse! But most of the time, she is such an angel and very easy to take care of. Unless you are a stranger to her, she'll smile at you most of the time and showcases her four cute teeth. 


She began crawling professionally (cewah) about a week ago. Now dah pandai pull herself to stand but still not enough courage to cruise. She now understands what her index finger is for, that is to point at things. So dah pandai tunjuk benda yang dia nak. 

Crawl Hana crawl..

And guess what? Her favourite word nowadays is mammmaaa!! Not papa or dada.. but mama..me.. her mother! Nak mintak dukung, she'll start calling mama. Nak susu, sebut mama. Hehehe.. I sukeee!


To Hana Khadeeja,  my daughter kesayangan, happy 10 months young dear. Mama loves you verrrryyy verrryyy much! Muahhh!

Who is the biggest loser?

Only 4 participants (not enough to turn into an interesting reality TV show);
involving 4 female pediatric doctors who desperately need to shed off their very stubborn extra kilos.


The winner will get RM400, just nice to buy a decent pair of shoes (or skirt, you know who you are). 


The competition started last week and will end just before Raya. 
Sorry Chiam, you just have to fast along with us if you want to win :p

Wedding preps

My sister and I are planning to DIY certain things for my brother's wedding including centrepieces for the guest tables, decoration for the buffet tables as well hantaran for the bride. As for pelamin and main table, we leave them to the hand of the professionals, Merisik Gallery and team.


As a measure to prevent any disaster, we amateurs decided to give it a try before the big day and test our creative fingers. Postcall on Sunday, I forced my hubby along to a florist wholesaler in the middle of KL to get a bunch of reasonably priced flowers and went over to my sister's pad for the project men'DIY'.


These are the outcome.

Wedding centrepiece attempt #1.
We used a combination of shocking pink and light pink roses as well daisies
Pot/vase (whatever you call it) was bought from Ikea

Tall centrepiece.
We did not have enough flowers. As a result, a very 'togel' sponge.

Hantaran using a mix of yellow and white roses and baby's breath.
Green ribbon and the real black dulang were left at mommy's house in Bangi.
Tak kuasa nak travel dari Shah Alam semata-mata nak amik barang2 tu.

Yes, I know, there is a room for improvement. But then again, I personally think that the end result is surprisingly okay for a first timer like us. What do you think? Ada harapan untuk kitorang tukar profession jadik wedding decorator macam Chenta Weddings :p

A home is where the heart is..

As you all know, my hubby recently migrated to a new company in Rawang. Located 50km away from Shah Alam, travelling back and fro to his work place is really gonna cost a big dent to his pocket. What with petrol lagi and 3 tolls amounting to more than RM7 (one way), I guess you can do the math of how much he needs to spend everyday. Adding to our monthly expenditure is my travelling to Sg Buloh via NKVE costing me RM3.20 one way and minyak lagi.  Haihhh.. boleh bayar guna pasir tak??? 


Once, we were thinking of car pooling since both of us somewhat heading the same direction but my hubby tends to finish work late and I tak sanggup nak tunggu for hours at the hospital and left Hana at my sister's home way pass Maghrib time.. 


So my hubby proposed that we apply for hospital quarters and rent out our current house. Hence, we'll save a lot money on tolls and petrol as my hubby is the only who does all the travelling. On the contrary, it's gonna be SO sad leaving Bukit Jelutong and our house behind. 


My hubby, a kampung boy, once said that he can't imagine staying in an apartment/condo and will only buy a landed property. He needs some greeneries around the house. He also said that  it is inconvenient in terms of kalau tertinggal barang dalam kereta, takdelah kena masuk lift and turun 10 storeys down to get the stuff. And kalau shopping banyak2, tak ke penat turun naik dua tiga trip semata-mata nak angkat barang .. well, he has a point there.

BJ is a nice neighbourhood and the first time we stepped in this area, we just knew that this is a place where we should stay and raise our kids. So, finally we decided to purchase a house within walking distance to the school, a big padang and a mini business centre called D'bayu. This place has everything you asked for, a steak house, 7-E, Domino's, Tutti Frutti, a kopitiam, kedai mamak, clinic and Cambridge for students to learn English.


What I love most is that on the day that we are off, me and mr hubby would bring Hana for a stroll for our breakfast at the nearest Mamak stall or Kopi Kaw while enjoying the morning breeze (cewah :P).. I pernah jugak once called for Domino's home delivery and bila derang tanya rumah kat mana, I malu2 bagitau our house is located just accross the shop :p (ishx3, memang dasar pemalas!) 


Back to our ancient crib. We bought this house for 370K at that time, yep still cheap back then considering the location. Just after we signed the S&P and moved in, the price of the houses around this area increased by 30%, even the old ones like ours! Yes, crazy I tell ya! Anyways, this house ada attic yang previous owner dah buat, so at least we have an extra space for storage and dah ada pegola and wooden door. So, kira okay la kan. Though, we just moved in 2 years ago to this 10 year old house with a lot of leaking problem and a much needed renovation (but don't have the ongkos for it), but we still love this house to bits (I'll proly exaggerate a bit there teehee..).


Anyway, I've filled up my application for the hospital quarters. According to my friend who stayed there, the place is quite spacious with 4 rooms and is almost fully furnished minus the electrical appliances. I did survey for apartments around KD area where my sister lives but it is waaaayy beyond our budget. So I guess we'll just stick to staying within the hospital compound, if my application approved, that is.


Okaylah, nanti I'll snap few pictures of BJ and my humble house before it will be rent out (huhuhu)..


P/s anyone interested to be our future tenant? Sewa cuma RM1500, partly furnished..

Shhh..

Baik tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, abang, kakak dan adik. Sila perlahankan suara ya, as I am currently in study mode. Exam bulan September dan saya kena korek poket dan dompet, cari duit sen-sen yang bersepah-sepah untuk cukupkan RM2.5k sebagai yuran peperiksaan tu. Kalau tak pass, duit tu kira burn je dan omputeh kat UK tu sedap-sedap je dapat makan duit yuran yang kita bayar dengan titik peluh sendiri.


Saya tak mampu fail lagi sebab kena cepat-cepat ambik clinical exam agar dapat menjadi specialist segera. Duit gaji sebagai MO cikai ni hanya cukup untuk hidup berserderhana, tak dapat nak bermewah-mewahan. Selain itu, saya dah berjanji dengan diri sendiri yang jikalau saya lulus exam kali ini, saya dapat membeli handabg Longchamp yang dah lama saya idamkan.


Okay ya, makcik pakcik sekelian. Sila beri kerjasama ya... Senyap semua sebab saya tengah beri tumpuan sepenuhnya terhadap buku depan mata  bertajuk Paediatric Exams, A Survival Guide oleh Encik Paul Gaon.


Harap maklum... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Planning a wedding

Since me and my elder brother's wedding Razeen 3 years ago, me and my sister have always been looking forward to planning a beautiful wedding. So now it's my brother's Rasis turn of being a groom and his reception will be held in the near future. So far, everything is running according to plan.


Theme: Tiffany blue with a dash of pastel pink and white
Venue: Home sweet home

1) Barang- barang hantaran bought my brother, baju bride and groom dia yang pilih. Cross finger that the design is okay since the future bride is currently in Egypt. So I hope my brother had a good taste.


2) Dulang and design for hantaran
My creative sister ambitiously wants to do it herself since upah orang will cost at least RM100/dulang using high grade artificial flowers. So far, what we have in mind is probably using white bekas decorated with blue hydrangea and pink flowers from SSF. It should be easy I hope? We are still searching for the right dulang but so far our attempt of finding one failed miserably. We went to SSF the other day but did not find one that we really like. My sister paid a visit to Romantika but she said tak banyak option. Then I guess wajib singgah Nilai 3 then.


3) We were impressed with the simple yet elegant pelamin by Merisik Gallery and will hire them for simple pelamin at home, main table deco, stairs deco, wedding favours and centrepieces. We would also like to use few lanterns at the tent and car porch. 


One of my favourite wedding decorators cum planners are Chenta Wedding and Wedding by Sher but it seemed like they cater for VIPs and those with a lot of $$$.. sigh.

Wedding favour by MG, cute!

Pelamin also by MG.. simple yet nice.

4) Catering: not yet decided. 
I've tentatively booked Mazia Catering as I found good reviews on their food and service. But my dad on the other hand strongly wants another caterer, En Khalid something from Sg Kantan Kajang. Papa claimed that everyone in Bangi use him for their wedding. Yeahh.. rite..

It's the in thing. To have such cute lanterns hanging at the canopy

5) Wedding card ordered (see previous entry) and paid. Just awaiting printing.


Tomorrow ada meeting tergempar dengan the rest of the family regarding my brother's wedding. My dad needs his update before he goes to Bangladesh. I hope my proposal of getting Mazia catering is accepted. Hmm.. kena buat kertas kerja nih!

Sneak peek..

Not mine tau!
This wedding card is for my brother's reception in July.
It's a modern design which was chosen by my sister. We simply ordered online ..
What do you think.. okay kan? You better say okay, okay :P